Once Alive
by exobia
Summary: Once Alive is a collection of short stories attributed to notable zombies, brief insights into their lives before and after they became the walking dead.


Ella Sue, Part 1

_"Are you warm?" Ella Sue nodded then waited for her mother to stop tightening the collar. "Alright, now you get to sleep." _

Ella Sue was cocooned in her pink bathrobe, which had once been soft and fluffy. Now, it had bald patches like a mange-ridden rabbit, and wasn't as warm as it used to be. She laid her head, and the rear seat's leather chilled her cheek, a crack hardened with age snagging a lock of her oily blond hair. She wiggled farther beneath the blanket to free it, the way she'd gotten used to doing in her new bed...the way she'd gotten used to a lot of things.

_The car door opened and a blast of wind crawled over her. "Don't stay up, you hear?" Ella Sue nodded. "Love ya." The door slammed shut. _

Mother was off to work again. Ella Sue bade her time...One, Two, Three, Four... Her head rose slowly, and she looked out the car window.

Long-hauls and trailers filled the parking lot behind the nightclub. Lampposts shadowed the area with a golden hue, where the red, green, and blue neon beaming from the club's sign reminded Ella Sue of Christmases she'd seen on television. She could hear the subtle thumping of music she'd grown accustomed to over the past few months. Deep bass, slow rhythmic melodies, and sometimes fast-paced. It was the only lullaby she ever remembered getting in her young life, and the vision of Mother walking away in high heels was enough to signify home to her. She lowered again (that pesky rip in the seat caught her hair and she freed it) and she balled into a fetal position, gripping the corner of her blanket.

_There was laughter, the wild kind that seemed free, shrills of delight which she'd never experienced herself. She heard it in the back of her mind, not really through her ears. She was part of the fun without knowing what was going on. But the woman's chuckles sounded familiar. _

Ella Sue peeled open her eyes, and the fog on her brain gradually dissipated. She now recalled her surroundings (trucks, cars, club, parking lot) but hadn't realized she'd fallen asleep. Her awakening not only brought to realization she wasn't part of the fun outside her door, but also aroused a volcanic grumbling in her stomach. Maybe that's why she'd entered her slumber so readily—she hadn't eaten since breakfast at Mitch's gas station.

She sat up and peered out the window. The laughing woman she thought was Mother was in fact_ not_ her. This woman accompanied a man toward a dark colored pickup. They didn't go inside though. They were entangled upside the hood, kissing, touching. Ella Sue watched with a lesser degree of curiosity than that of waiting for Mother to come out with her man. Once Mother spent time with her fella, she'd come back home to the car.

Sometimes Ella Sue would have to wait for Mother to entertain four or five before she'd hear the door open and shut, and the engine start. After that, it was only a matter of a time before they'd park at the rear of Mitch's gas station, where the sunlight warmed them behind the convenience store. Ella Sue would climb over and onto the front seat, then curl up beside Mother as she nodded off. Only too soon Mitch would come out, knock on the glass, and wake them. Mother would give him money, then later she and Ella Sue could wash up inside and grab something to eat.

_This was routine, normal, the way it was for the past few months since Mother left rehab. She'd promised Ella Sue it was only temporary, until she got back on her feet._

Ella Sue noticed the laughing woman also needed to get back on her feet. The man had her propped up on the front bumper, her legs wrapped around him, and the truck rocked back and forth. Ella Sue sighed with boredom and lowered again.

Ella Sue, Part 2

_The screams first came faintly, high-pitched, definitely female. Then there were more, a crowd of voices of varied tones, still somewhere in the back of her mind, not heard through the ears. She'd fallen asleep again, and this time it was harder to wake up. _

_Fast footsteps thundered past her. Running, the occasional gunshots and sirens, angry voices and bottles breaking, all these were nothing new to her and not enough to raise her from slumber. The jarring bump against the car, however, was._

Ella Sue rose with a disorienting snap. A flash of her surroundings entered her vision but flooded the gates of her incoherent mind.

_Through the windshield, she witnessed a woman lay on the hood while a man pressed her from behind. He grabbed her hair and yanked her downward, both their beings vanishing from Ella Sue's sight. _

_From what she could see through her window fogged with her breath, people were wild tonight. They raced from the parking lot on wheels and foot, their screams indicative of a strange and new kind of fun, not like the laughing woman. _

Ella Sue rubbed the sticky web of sleep from her eyes, then glanced around for any sign of Mother among the hoard of men and women fleeing. They all passed her, left her alone with her pink, ratty bathrobe and backseat bed. She blinked slowly, her eyelids and head weighing heavy under the colorful lights. She nestled beneath her blanket again, the music of her lullaby laddering in volume as the screams faded.

_A different set of noises lingered outside her door. Lightly the growls came like the coyotes in Georgia when they cautioned encroachments. She balled up even tighter against the gnawing hunger pains in her stomach. The growls weren't outside, she convinced herself somewhere in a realm of dreams, it was her stomach. But the front door opening was real._

_"Ella Sue, baby, are you all right?" She remained tucked and nodded, opened her eyes long enough to see Mother panting hungrily for breath, her makeup smeared in wet stripes. "Dear God, what's happening," Mother shrieked and started the engine. _

_She must've had another bad man again, Ella Sue surmised. It happened sometimes, and she wasn't to worry about it, Mother would say, even expect it every now and then. So when the vehicle whipped in several directions and sped onward, she didn't think anything of it. She let the sound of the tires along the road lure her into the deepest of sleep, where she drew comfort in knowing they'd be at Mitch's gas station soon._

It was her coughs which aroused her this time, and she sat up fully, rubbing her eyes and stretching her legs. She couldn't stop coughing. Something in the air choking her brought to realization that everything about being at Mitch's gas station was wrong. She was still in the backseat. The driver's side door was opened. Mitch hadn't knocked on the glass, but Mother wasn't sleep behind the steering wheel. She was gone, as if she'd vanished in the plumes of smoke filling the car.

Ella Sue looked around frantically, opened her door and got out barefoot. She wasn't behind the convenience store. Through the mask of smoke, she saw she'd been sleeping beside a pump, a dinging coming from the dashboard. She called out to Mother but didn't get a reply. She needed to move out of the wind's path to see better, breathe better.

Standing in a clearing of the lot, she spotted a truck and flipped car ablaze, atop an incline toward the highway. As the vehicles smoldered, a man and woman wrestled much in the way the couple on the hood of the car had last night at the club. The woman screamed a terrifying shriek while the man grabbed at her, and down they went. Ella Sue made a visor with her hands and shielded her eyes from the sunlight. Silhouettes of the man and woman created a disturbing kind of fun; at the end of the bout, the man stood erect, holding only the woman's head.

Ella Sue ran, crying for her mother, ran as fast as her naked feet could take her across the hard concrete. Everywhere she turned there were cars parked sideways, along the grass, across two spaces, up against the wall of the store. A roaming man or woman, here and there, growling like her tummy, but no Mother. If she couldn't find her, she'd search for the next best thing.

Ella Sue, Part 3

_'Everyone here's pretty nice.' Ms. Martha had handed them each a bowl of rice and beans. 'They keep to themselves, don't ask no questions.'_

_Before she could even thank the kind lady, Ella Sue was gobbling the meal up. She and Mother had been on the road for a while, traveling due south from Chattanooga. They'd spent the greater part of the morning in Mitch's company. He and Mother had gone off alone (to make living arrangements Mother later said) and when they'd returned, she and Ella Sue could park the car with the others. _

_Ms. Martha was in charge of the grounds, but only because she'd been there the longest, she'd explained. At that moment, a little brown girl with pigtails had run up alongside Ella Sue and shown her a dirty-white teddy bear._

Ms. Martha had to be around here somewhere. It simply wasn't like her to not know what was going on, or who these stray people were, growling and fighting each other. And if Ms. Martha could explain all this to her, then she could tell her where Mother was.

Ella Sue startled at a blood-curdling scream up ahead near the encampment of vehicles. A wave of courage swelled in her and she darted forward, hoping it was Mother—yet, hoping it wasn't. Mother! Mother! she called out. The female scream which provoked her daring entry toward the rear of the convenience store quickly transformed into a wet gurgle. Ella Sue stopped a distance in front of a silver sedan, Ms. Martha's car.

A woman stood at the opened driver's door and hovered near the steering wheel. Ella Sue ducked behind a patch of wild grass and watched for several minutes as the woman yanked and jarred her head. Perhaps she was looking for something, or someone. Ella Sue rose slowly from the brush, and the woman froze as if she heard her. Ella Sue dared not move, if even her standing caught the stranger's attention. However, it appeared the woman heard Ella Sue's heart pounding—she squawked like a beast and snarled as she slipped out from the car.

Ella Sue's whole being shook, her bathrobe soaked with a fearful sweat. She could never outrun the thing she thought was a woman. She dropped to her knees and parted the grass, spied the bloodied and torn remains wobbling toward her. There was no chance to make a run for it now.

Ella Sue, Part 4

_Mitch's gas station was an ideal place to lay roots for a while. It was right off the highway, had plenty of trees and a recreational park area, and a decent store where one could fill up while filling 'er up. The uglier side was the graveyard of repossessed cars and trucks stationed for pickup by the owners, but it made for good games of hide-and-seek. Every day, someone or some family stopped off at Mitch's and pitched a tent for the night (a round of hide-and-seek, if there were children) then continued their journey on the road the following day._

_Ms. Martha hadn't needed to convince Mother. It had already been decided the encampment was her and Ella Sue's safe haven. Their tour was through a labyrinth of vehicles, a meet-and-greet with the more permanent residents._

Ella Sue snagged a breath deep in her chest, held it as the wanderer closed in on her. She wiggled down to the ground and hunched over, head toward the grass, eyes shut. All that remained opened were her ears. She knew how to hide when she had to (having had plenty practice in Mother's line of work) and listening was always key. Hear what you can't see.

_The death-rattle of the bloody woman resonated above her head, laddering off with a raspy grunt while her footsteps scraped against dirt._

_"Aaron!" The shuffled steps seized at the man's call. "Aaron, where are you, boy?" he shouted from elsewhere on the property. There was a sweeping sound on the ground, and the growls started to go in a different direction. "Please, Aaron, I'm here. We got to go!"_

Ella Sue bade her time...One, Two, Three, Four... She lifted her head and peeked out from behind the brush to find the dead woman limping away. She had a moment of safety to scrutinize her: red curls so damp they hung like party streamers; a white sundress with flowers that ended at the knees; and a pair of flip-flops which seemed to give her trouble walking. She was one of Ms. Martha's permanent residents. Ella Sue watched until Gemma turned the bend of the building then ran forward to the silver sedan.

Ms. Martha was behind the steering wheel. Her dark-pink sweater was neatly buttoned, and the V neck exposed the lacy collar of her white shirt. Even the scarf she wore at night when she wrapped her hair was still in place. But it was the cavernous wound in her neck which made Ella Sue gasp and gag and then break into sobs. Gemma ate Ms. Martha.

_"Hey, Ella Sue," came as a hushed shout from the side, "Is she gone?" She spun and found the convenience store's back door propped open. Jerry eased out from the opening, and a mass of people followed. "Come on, we got to get out here." He hurried toward her and pulled her away, led her and the others toward their cars. During their cautious sprint, she inquired if anyone had seen Mother. "No, sorry, kid." Jerry got to his tent and grabbed an armful of belongings. "But you can come with me. Here—" (he gave her a sleeping bag) "—put this in the station wagon."_

For the next twenty minutes, people dismantled their makeshift lean-tos from the trees and tents from the lawn. Children scampered to collect their fallen toys, only to be redirected to their cars while parents readied their getaway. Ella Sue hadn't offered to help but found herself taking orders anyway, packing this and that and delivering it to an SUV, a van, or a coupe. Anytime she had an opportunity to look toward the exit off the highway, a stray vehicle raced onto the lot. It would screech to a stop at one of the pumps and the door would fly open. The driver would say nothing while filling the tank, would glance repeatedly at the store window for an attendant, and then would take off when done.

It was during such an instance (Ella Sue handing effects to a resident, a random person getting gas then clearing off) when she spotted someone at Mother's car. She couldn't tell if the person wanted to steal it, or move it to free the pump; but before she knew it, she was creeping away from Jerry and the others to investigate.

Ella Sue, Part 5

It was a man searching Mother's car, and as Ella Sue moved near he grew familiar to her: black, curly hair above the dashboard and then sight of his short, glistening beard when he leaned toward the glove compartment.

_She smiled and picked up the pace. He wasn't dead! If Mitch was alive, then Mother was, too! She must've sent him to get something for her. He sprang back from the passenger's side, nearly jumped out his skin when he saw her at the window. "Christ, Almighty!" Mitch hung his head and wagged it, then looked up at her. "What are you still doing here?" _

_He eased out from the car, and she asked about Mother. _

_His brown eyes softened as if he was falling asleep. "I'm sorry, Ella Sue." He reached in, took the keys from the ignition, and walked toward the trunk. "You know if she kept anything good in here?" Ella Sue revealed it was filled with household stuff from Chattanooga. "Shit." He about-faced. "Worthless." She mentioned she hadn't had her breakfast yet, and he paused at the driver's side door. "Honey, you don't want to go in there." He tapped the roof. "Come on. We'll find someplace else."_

_"God, no, no," was the first of several screams from the encampment to pierce the area with a frightful symphony._

Mitch had gone stone-cold crazy, if he thought Ella Sue was leaving without Mother now, and she told him so. And she would suit herself, just fine. She looked on as he raced away from the pump in Mother's car, whipped a left out of the lot, and then followed the road to the highway. More engines revved alongside her as residents made their escape, far fewer cars than the number of those actually camped out. She gazed back at the swarm of bloody corpses taking their feed on those who hadn't finished packing, those who hadn't wiggled down and hid.

The walking dead were making their way through, tossing bodies to the ground, others leaping of their own accord over obstacles to flee. The gags and choked screams were horrific. Ella Sue glimpsed at the store. Mitch had to have come out through the front. With any luck, he left the door unlocked. She ran for it, as fast as her bare feet could take her.

_The store was only big enough to house a few racks of canned goods and junk food, along with a spindle of sunglasses and caps. Smaller items, like lip balm, sunscreen, and condoms were behind the register. _

_Regardless, the tinkling bell above the door had come to signify a type of comfort to her, food in her belly, a chance to hang out with Tasha. She and Ms. Martha's granddaughter had frequented the magazine racks for the latest on their favorite recording artist. _

_The toys section was merely a bin filled with cheap plastic junk from China, but anything had always been better than nothing. Whenever Mitch hadn't been around, the clerk Daisy had often given them a squirt gun, or a pack of water balloons. There had been times where employees and campers congregated for cake and coffee, days where they'd celebrated a birthday, all at a discount of course but paid for nonetheless._

Ella Sue tiptoed through the river of merchandise on the floor. This wasn't the safe haven she remembered. Only yesterday, she and Tasha shared a pack of Doritos and a Mountain Dew, breakfast. Ella Sue stepped over burst sacks and came to the metal units listing against the next. She ducked and waddled underneath one, stood on the other side and scanned the aisle.

The freezers were open, last drops of milk seeping out, and the glass was marred with crimson hand prints. Ella Sue waited and listened, took a step forward then stopped and listened some more. There was a soft squeal, like an injured kitten, non-threatening. Mother, she whispered urgently, Mother are you in here? She glimpsed the door to the office, where Mitch and Mother had regular meetings. If there was anywhere safe anymore, Mother must've had hidden in there.

There came the timid squeal again, and Ella Sue lurched to run for the office. A ruckus outside trapped her movement and she turned. The front door and windows darkened with a hoard who'd shuffled their bodies from the camp, past the pumps, and was now heading toward the road. The shop filled with a traveling chorus of their grunts and moans.

If Ella Sue stayed in the open, they'd see her. The only way out was through the office and to the back of the building. But to get there, she had to encounter whatever wiggled down and hid behind that door.

Ella Sue, Part 6

She pinned herself against the office door. Darkness bathed her, and the huffs of her own breath sent jitters through her. She stretched her hands out into the black void partitioning her from the exit she tried to find.

_Bam! She found the desk instead, or rather it found her, right in the gut. That edge hurt, too, but couldn't compare to what ailed the creature whining in a corner. _

Mother? Ella Sue felt along the top of the bureau and took baby steps toward the sound. Another wail howled, louder, more prominent. Are you hurt? Her fingertips grazed a wire, and she traced it to a lamp. Touching along the base, she pressed the button.

_'No one could outdo her at hide-and-seek,' Tasha had boasted their first night together at the camp. However Ella Sue had long since then proven her wrong. Any afternoon she and Mother weren't on the road, Ella Sue had spent being the very best hider, and the very best finder when she played with Tasha. 'You cheating!' Tasha had proclaimed the first time Ella Sue won (and upon end of every game since then) only the sting of the accusation lessened over the weeks, turned funnier._

Ella Sue wasn't laughing now but crying. It was clear, yesterday they'd played their last game and, today, Tasha won. She lifted herself from the corner in the kind of disjointed motion Ella Sue witnessed with Gemma, and all the others at the gas station who came afterward. Ella Sue shook her head slowly and stepped back.

Tasha's arms dangled at her sides, her dirty-white teddy bear in one hand, bunny-head slippers on her feet.

Squawk! It was an unnerving sound coming from a girl who sang in the church choir. She'd step forward, Ella Sue would step back, and Tasha would squawk. This was now their new and strange kind of game.

The exit to the rear of the building was blocked, and Ella Sue was nearly toward the store again. She turned quickly—Tasha belted a lengthy, angry growl—and Ella Sue tore the door open and fled. She ran, facing behind her. Tasha's monster-march continued but she was sure she could outrun her, outdo her.

Ella Sue looked forward and smacked her head against a fallen shelving. She forgot to wiggle down, duck, but she was down anyway. She groaned and bubbled with tears, reached up and touched her forehead, then saw her fingers stained with blood. Her hand dropped beside her with depleted strength. She wanted to get up, needed to, but she couldn't muster it.

The morning light was fading, and even the store's fluorescence seemed to dim. Tasha's squawks and whines and growls were nearing, and sleep was luring Ella Sue in. She was so, very tired and so, very hungry.

Initially it seemed she imagined it, but the bell above the door tinkled again.

Mother? Her voice was weak to the point she doubted anyone heard her. She wanted to keep her eyes opened, but they were closing on their own. She wanted to shut her ears, so she wouldn't have to hear Tasha anymore. But the groans kept coming. And now someone else joined them inside the store.

Ella Sue, Part 7, The End.

Her cries fed her an incredible burst of energy, but it was already too late to leave. All Ella Sue could do was roll over and crawl beneath a shelving unit. Tasha and her teddy and her bunny slippers loomed near her head. Mother snarled and lashed at the air by her feet. Poor Mother!

Ella Sue peeked through a bare shelf at her, then squeezed her eyes shut and cried even harder. This wasn't the lovely woman in high heels she'd seen walk from the car last night. Her clothes were gooey with blood, torn and shredded, not much left to hide the gash in her stomach. If anything human remained in her, Ella Sue had plenty of time to find out. She wasn't going anywhere, and neither of them bent over to get her. They simply remained in a vocal battle, a duel of guttural barks and growls. Ella Sue kept her eyes closed, hid away in her fading mind, and listened.

_Scratches. They came from near her feet. Then a noise like metal scraping. She felt the air around the unit move and she looked quickly. Blood dripped onto her face, causing her to blink, and the shelf groaned under Mother's weight._

Ella Sue scooted out toward the vacant spot and turned. Mother climbed over and grabbed Tasha. Down they went, the teddy bear, too. She didn't want to see what happened next between her mother and best friend. She raced toward the door and out the store, running toward the encampment, heading for the graveyard of repossessed cars for a life-saving game of hide-and-seek.

_It seemed like ages had passed since she had a decent meal. She'd already eaten all the spilled junk food from the store's floor, and drank what was left in the freezer. For the past week, she'd held off pilfering the abandoned encampment, because, well, it wasn't really abandoned. _

_Ms. Martha had wasted away a bit, her face turning into a brown, leathery mask, and Ella Sue couldn't recall the man's name, but he was in his car, too. And there were others, dead, rotting. The smell alone hadn't warranted searching there for food or water. Everything she'd gotten, even Tasha's bunny slippers, she'd gotten from the store. Though, she had never found the stuffed bear._

_Nevertheless Mitch's gas station had been her safe haven when it had really mattered, though she'd often prayed someone would come and take her away. All she'd ever received in reply was the lone passer-through who'd been once alive._

She knelt behind a van and peeked out at a monster who'd strayed upon the grounds earlier. The man walked slowly, but he was on the prowl, nose turned up and sniffing the air. Ella Sue tightened the belt on her bathrobe and inched toward another car. Out the corner of her eye, she spotted movement to her right and faced that direction.

Mother strolled through the graveyard with a jagged gait, carrying Tasha's teddy bear. Ella Sue wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes. Mother was bringing it to her! She remembered her! She may've been sick with whatever caused the others to turn into walking dead, her flesh now decaying along her bones, but a mother she remained.

Ella Sue heard her, yet she was too scared to meet her halfway. Mother softened her death song, her growls weakened to a wounded kitten's peep, and she stretched forth her arms. Ella Sue smiled. What she wouldn't give to feel Mother's hugs again! Maybe she was feeling better, and this nightmare was coming to an end. Ella Sue needed to know.

She glanced around to make sure the coast was clear (as much as possible anyway with a monster on the loose) and she ran for Mother. She wrapped her arms around her and closed her eyes, wishing away the horror movie they were living, sobbing with joy. She felt the plush toy brush her arm and she looked. Mother inclined and leaned over. Ella puckered her lips and stood on her toes for a kiss.

_So hungry. She spotted a critter on the ground near one of the cars and she walked over to it. The bear. It wasn't alive. Never was. She bent and picked it up. The most surprising thing was she could feel the grime on its coat. She could feel. A simple toy in her grasp was all she became consciously aware of before the hunger returned._

_She shuffled onward, the sides of her bathrobe hanging open, pangs gnawing at her stomach with vengeance. Any recollection of her life, tiny thoughts like fragments of who she was or how she got there, dissipated when famine clawed within. Her strange, new existence ignited with a familiarity of those not like her when she heard the man's voice. _

_"Little girl," he called out, "little girl it's okay. I'm a policeman."_

_No. Ella Sue turned and faced him. No, mister. You're breakfast._


End file.
